Alex Eala rallies past Magdalena Fręch in gritty Italian Open opener

Down 1-3 in the deciding set, Alex Eala as soon as once more confirmed her trademark resilience on clay — grinding out to a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Magdalena Frech in the primary spherical of the Italian Open on Wednesday.

Eala got here out sharp and composed, dictating rallies from the baseline in a dominant opening set.

She broke early and infrequently, overwhelming Fręch with depth and management to ship a bagel. The effectivity on serve set the tone — successful 67% of first-serve factors whereas staying flawless behind her second serve, a clear platform that allowed her to play aggressively in return video games.

However, momentum shifted in the second set as Fręch adjusted, stepping in on returns and making use of stress on Eala’s service video games.

A fast break in the primary set gave the Polish veteran a 3-0 cushion. While Eala briefly threatened with a mid-set push with a fifth recreation break to make it 2-3, Fręch’s well timed counter-break in the sixth recreation restored her edge.

From there, she maintained her degree, closing out the set with steadier shot-making and improved court docket positioning.

The decider adopted the same script early, with Fręch hanging first to construct a 3-1 lead. But on clay, the place persistence and composure usually decides matches, Eala dug in.

Eala prolonged rallies, compelled errors, and flipped the momentum with a vital break in the sixth recreation. That sparked a three-game surge to grab management at 4-3, earlier than she delivered the knockout blow with one other break in the tenth recreation to sign the comeback.

Eala advances to the spherical of 64, the place she’s going to face thirty first seed Wang Xinyu — establishing an intriguing all-Asian conflict in Rome.